Mountain Bike Diaries...True Stories of the Trails

Trail Reviews ... Photos ... Maps ... Video ... Advice ... GPX

Looking for Riders

I are constantly looking for new places to go and to meet new riders. Over the years I have been fortunate to have made connections with many riders from outside of my area (San Diego) ... riders who have taken me out to experience some of their local rides like Paul Ottum (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and Misty Murphy (Rogers, Arkansas) pictured to the left.

Some of these riders have had tremendous mountain bike skills while others have not ... but in all cases we have had fun biking their favorite trails and telling stories about our ride(s).

After my visit I post photos, videos, and a map of the ride ... plus share information as to what happened on our ride. To see photos of my previous guides please visit Trail Guides.

I will come to you! Since retiring from teaching last June (and gaining access to free standby flight) I am even more anxious to come to your area and to try your favorite trails.
Interested in taking me for a ride? Just click Let's Ride to contact me.

Want to come here and do some San Diego Mountain Biking? I will be happy to take you out on some of my favorite local trails. Just let me know by using the link above.

TheWrench is on a rant!! Want to see the question asked and his response? Click here to find out.

Personal Mountain Bike Trail Reviews

This site is filled with Story Pages. These Story Pages display the text, photos, and videos from my personal mountain biking trips.
Each Story Page can serve as a trail review for anyone trying to do research for an upcoming trip,
someone looking for new trails to tackle, or just for entertainment.

But this website is even more useful (and entertaining) with the addition of your stories.
Mountain Bike Diaries is built on a platform that allows visitor-submitted stories to be published automatically
as their own Story Pages on this site.
As a result, we can easily display a myriad of experiences and opinions,
helping lead us to some great overall mountain bike trail reviews and ... some very interesting stories.

Do you have your own mountain bike story to share? Feel free to tell us about something interesting that happened on one of your rides.
Long story? Short story? It doesn't matter ... You can share that story with us here.

Hundreds of Photos

Mountain Bike Diaries exhibits over 700 photos of the trails, the riders, and the physical features found on each ride
... like towering snow capped peaks, sparkling alpine lakes, strange sandstone rock formations, tightly packed aspen groves, and plenty more.
Don't feel like reading? You can use this website simply as a picture book.
By clicking the arrow below you will be treated to these photos shown as a slide-show.
Try selecting the FULL SCREEN feature (in the lower right corner) to get the most of this experience.

To view all photos up until 9/2014 on Mountain Bike Diaries please go to our Flickr page at MBD Flikr Photos. To view the most recent photos (as of 11/14) please click MBD SmugMug Photos.

Detailed Trailhead and Ride Maps

Mountain Bike Diaries provides two different types of maps. The first is called a Trailhead Map, which shows icons for each trailhead in a given region (like the one below).
Clicking on an icon gives the reader the chance to get directions to the trailhead, or to link directly to the Story Page for that ride.

The second type of map is a Ride Map, where icons highlight interesting events along the route.
Clicking icons on a Ride Map gives the reader additional information about each event.
The first icon listed for each Ride Map links directly to the Story Page for that ride.

Trailhead Map:The map below shows all the trailheads for the entire MBD website.
By clicking on an icon you will get the name and location of the ride, an option to link to the ride's Story Page, or get driving directions to the Trailhead.

Do you have any opinions on the rides mapped above?
Are there better rides in these areas? Please let us know so we can try them!
We can all benefit from your experiences, so ... please tell us about your ride(s)!.

Videos From The Trail

Want to get a preview of the terrain as you plan your next trip? Would you like to see videos of the trails before you ride them? I have taken video footage on every ride I've done lately and we have made several YouTube videos from this footage. These videos can be viewed either at our video page on this site, named Mountain Biking Videos or on our YouTube channel called MountainBikeDiaries.

Helpful Advice

I may not be a pro or a "semi-pro" mountain biker, but I have learned quite a few things of this sport.
Having been a teacher for the past 32 years, I feel I can give you clear explanations on many aspects of mountain biking.
From my Beginners page I share many ideas about buying a good bike, getting a helmet, which shoes to wear, and many other ideas that go along with getting started in this great sport.
My Tips and Techniques page offers advice on what "To Do" ... and what "Not To Do" to make each ride a success. And my Best Rides rankings give you ideas on which trails are really worth exploring.

As a person who thoroughly loves mountain biking, I hope you will also come to value this sport and enjoy our website.

Enjoy this page? Please help us pay it forward to others who would find it valuable by using the social buttons below.

A 4-day Fruita mountain biking trip led me to discover that there are some incredible trails in the vicinty of Fruita and Grand Junction, Colorado. You can read stories from my trip here, and share your own as well!

Timely Tip

Who's Joe?

That's me, Joe Unden, your guide on this site.
Since 2005 my favorite activity has been mountain biking.
In 2011 I decided I wanted to share my biking experiences with others online, to make it easier for people to learn about the trails I love.